But you also suspect BioWare's on the right track, and until it pulls it off - and the initial noises about the sequel seem promising - Mass Effect offers us a singular universe of excitement and drama to lose ourselves in.

Generously stocked with puzzles and options, and with something to offer for players of all skill levels, Buku Sudoku is actually one of the strongest puzzle packages on Live Arcade and - somewhat to my surprise - comes highly recommended.

Trouble is, the arcade machine used Tempest-style spinners for control and the joypad is a poor substitute when playing the classic version.

The biggest question mark is whether a big enough online community will spring up around it to allow it to fulfill its potential. Sadly, with a fair amount of optimisation issues rearing their heads early on, Quake Wars looks destined to line-up with the also-rans in the online shooter stakes.

If you're the parent of a five year-old boy, you can sit them in front of Emergency Heroes and leave the room, confident it's less graphically violent than an episode of The Archers. Just be aware that for anyone over five, it's also less thrilling.

There are new Achievements, and lots of new things to tinker with, but not a lot of incentive to plod through the campaign missions again or start over ranking up your multiplayer stats.

It's certainly a decent enough block-dropping puzzler, even if most people probably would've preferred Tetris. Or a Virtual Console release for the SNES Dr Mario and Tetris compilation. Either way, 1000 Points feels a bit steep.

Personally, it feels a little unbalanced to me. I like adventure games because of the "adventure" aspect, the blend of a compelling story, immersive dialogue and logical deduction. This game favours the last element at the expense of the first two, and therefore left me somewhat unsatisfied.

Fans of the comic strip can feel free to add as many points to the score below as will make them happy, since they're the ones most likely to make the effort needed to get past the flaws, but for everyone else there's little here to justify the hefty price.

Right now, though, the game as it stands is a rough diamond - very good, bordering on great thanks to a regular stream of comprehensive patches from Funcom.

The combat's weak, the storyline's excruciating, it's technically deficient - Haze really is this year's most significant gaming disappointment.

SingStore and My SingStar are brilliant additions which significantly change the SingStar experience.

It's produced a superbly made peripheral and a piece of software that offers both entertainment and a sense of achievement. It's all very slick and lifestyle, with plenty of white everywhere, but there are the bold shapes, bright colours and moments of sheer charm you'd expect from Nintendo.

With the added bonus of Captain Your Country, and a host of welcome tweaks and additions, it's a Russian linesman away from being given 9/10, and only the inevitable absence of club teams and other FIFA-level content get in the way.

It's all about shooting faster and better, not discovering clever new routes, so unless you're the sort of person who actively enjoys playing the same small sections over and over, searching for new ways to eke out those extra few points, there's absolutely nothing here to warrant an 800-Point purchase.

There's nothing terribly wrong with all this in theory, but the game's shocking lack of polish makes even this rudimentary gameplay a real chore to get through.

Assault Heroes 2 is therefore basically more of the same, with some decent new bits but precious few fresh ideas.

Even the staunchest of Myst fans can't deny that this is a pretty poor port. Despite being faithful to the original in sound effects and atmosphere, its glitches and lack of new, DS-specific functions ultimately inhibit its worth.

It's worth buying if you can find it at a bargain price, and works as a decent alternative to Wii Fit for balance board owners. Just don't expect too much.

It's definitely a superior example of turn-based strategy, and certainly the best insect-based example of the genre. And, in a slightly tenuous attempt to tie the end of this review back in to our opening trivia, it's definitely more fun than counting to 10 quintillion.

Enjoyed in short delicious bursts, My Life as a King is one of the most impressive downloads offered on a current-generation console.

LostWinds is a great example of what can be achieved on WiiWare. By combining a few simple gesture-based controls within a tightly focused platform-puzzling framework, Frontier has created a mini-masterpiece at the first attempt.

TV Show King is a quiz game, and it features questions. That basic level of expectance is all it manages to meet, and it's horribly clear that this is simply a "make do" release, put out there to mop up an existing market with the minimum of effort.

There's definitely potential here to build something more robust, with multiple power-ups and numerous enemy types, but Defend Your Castle becomes a mindless slog far too quickly to warrant repeat plays.

Get past the "popping bubbles?" incredulity and the game does offer a decent amount of depth and no-frills gameplay, but I can't quite bring myself to see it as 700 Points' worth of fun.

When you've got a quiz where players don't even need to understand the question to win, you've got a quiz that doesn't really work all that well.

If you should spot Speed Racer in a bargain bin, and fancy a few hours of simple, entertaining arcade racing, it's worth a look.

R-Type Tactics lies among that enjoyable second tier of turn-based games currently occupied by the likes of Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command.